Arabic Literature and Translation

5 Arabic Books to Read ‘Before You Die’

Well, perhaps this one was a bit morbid:

The “Five Before You Die” was a feature we ran back in the summer 2010; by now, there are now many more great Arabic books available in translation, but this remains a strong list from translators, authors, critics, and publishers.

Although he might not put it on his resume, Mustafa was perhaps the first supporter of this blog. He teaches at Northeastern University, translates, and is the editor and translator of the excellent Contemporary Iraqi Fiction: An Anthology.His picks:

Antoon was shortlisted for this year’s International Prize for Arabic Fiction for his third novel, Hail Mary, currently being translated. His second, Pomegranate Alone, is coming out in translation later this year from Yale University Press. His first was I’jaam, which Katrina Weber lists as one of her picks further down the list. He also has published a collection of poems in English, titled Baghdad Blues, in addition to being a filmmaker and award-winning translator, and is currently an assistant professor at NYU. More on Antoon here. His five:

In 2010, Muhanna was a PhD student in Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations at Harvard University, a writer, and the maintainer of Qifa Nabki. He still blogs at Qifa Nabki, but has since become a comp lit professor at Brown University. His five:

Rakha is a poet, journalist, literary critic, and a member of the Beirut39 cabal. He writes about Arabic literature and other things at http://yrakha.wordpress.com/. His first two novels, Sultan’s Seal and Crocodiles, are forthcoming from Interlink and Seven Stories Press.

Hewison is a writer, translator (City of Love and Ashes by Yusuf Idris, and Wedding Night by Yusuf Abu Rayya), and associate director of editorial programs with AUC Press. Hewison’s five:

Hoda Barakat, The Tiller of Waters(Lebanon) — an absorbing, enlightening, multi-layered novel set in the empty war-ruins of Beirut, as a man struggling to survive and retain his sanity among packs of feral dogs reconstructs his history and the histories of those close to him through the metaphor of fabric (in which he used to trade), and slowly reveals the secret meanings of linen, cotton, velvet, silk. This is simply one of the best Arabic novels I have read, and it is beautifully translated by Marilyn Booth.

Mourid Barghouti,I Saw Ramallah (Palestine) — a poetic revelation of what it means to be an exile, and what it means to return. This is one of the most powerful — because it is told so calmly, without rancor — indictments of the great injustice that is Israel. Translated perfectly by Ahdaf Soueif.

Ibrahim al-Koni, Gold Dust (Libya) — a great desert novel that is simple and universal at the same time. You will feel the heat and the sores and the thirst and the pain. In an elegant translation by Elliott Colla.

Naguib Mahfouz, Miramar (Egypt) — everybody must have their favorite Mahfouz novel, and this is mine. It is the story of Egypt and its Revolution, brilliantly told by four very different men staying in an old-fashioned pension in Alexandria, as they hover around the country girl who works there.

Davies is the celebrated translator of, among other works, Bahaa Taher’s Sunset Oasis, Alaa El Aswany’s The Yacoubian Building, Elias Khoury’s Gate of the Sun and Yalo, Ahmed Al-Aidy’s Being Abbas el-Abd. You’ll certainly want to pick up his translation of Ahmad Faris Shidyaq’s Leg over Leg when it comes out later this year. Davies’ choices:

Elias Khoury, Bab al-Shams/Gate of the Sun: best book written about Palestinian dispossession; very long and non-linear; sometimes infuriating but ultimately thrilling—as one critic pointed out, you really have to read it twice.

Elias Khoury, Yalo: a young man accused to serial rape and theft is being interrogated in a Lebanese police station; in the process his understanding of the world changes utterly; amazingly, even some deadpan humor.

Muhammad Afifi, Taranim fi Zill Tamara/Little Songs in theShade of Tamaara ; dreamy contemplations of the creatures inhabiting his garden (the dog, a frog, his wife, etc.) by an old man sitting under a tree; cult classic in the making.

Aboul-Ela is associate professor of English at the University of Houston; he teaches courses in postcolonial literature literary theory, Arab studies, and world lit. He also translates, most notably Sonallah Ibrahim’s Stealth, Ibrahim Abdel-Meguid’s Distant Train, and Soleiman Fayyad’s Voices. He is co-editor with Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak of “Theory Around the World”, a new publication series translating critical theory from outside Europe and North America. Aboul-Ela says he bases his list partially on the quality of the translation into English, with the exception of Voices, which he insists “rises above its translator’s limitations.” His five:

Weber is a lover of Arabic literature and was the moderator of the Read Kutub literature group and blog, which is part of The Third Line non-profit programming in Dubai. Weber also has a very interesting method of counting to five:

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17 comments

Reblogged this on Al-Must'arib (the vocational Mossarab) and commented:
THERE ARE SOOOO MANY I HAVEN’T READ…. and I’m sure same applies to you, ppl out there!. At least I’m sure of smthg: If we, westerns had read a bit more of these books, there would be lesser wars. And same can apply to mid easterns. Word by word.

[…] tend to be list items, such as “5 Arabic books to read before you die,” (interviewer note: this list will still make you drool— or at least, it does that to me) and the “top 105 books of the 20th […]

[…] without including Sonallah Ibrahim. Some might suggest The Committee (as Sinan Antoon did on the “5 before you die” list), others Zaat (selected by Hosam Aboul-ela), but I am absolutely weak-kneed for Ibrahim’s […]